


Unholy and Unblessed

by KingLilith



Category: Faerie Folklore, Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fae & Fairies, Fae Tony, I wanted to give tony the most ironic superpower I could think of, Instead this happened, Tony as part of the Unseelie Court
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 14:48:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13953885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingLilith/pseuds/KingLilith
Summary: Tony might just be one of the things lurking in the darkness.Not over or under, but in-between, is where you'll find the blessed and unblessed unseen.





	Unholy and Unblessed

Tony’s mother is from Europe. She tells everyone who wants to know about the little Italian village that she grew up in, and how much she loves it in America compared to that. But Tony knows that’s a lie.

Tony has always known that his mother is different. She sings him lullaby’s she won’t let his father hear, and is always careful to close her mouth when she smiles. She tells him stories at night and teaches him to talk in languages his father doesn’t know. And she always, always, wears gloves.

Tony is four when he learns that he is different as well.

His mother tells him they are not the same, but similar. That his father’s blood made him stronger than she is. She shows him by very carefully taking one glove off and touching the robot-dog Tony was trying to program. The smell of burning skin filling his nose immediately. Tony watches how she carefully puts her gloves back on, concealing the burn and taking away most of the bad smell. Hesitantly Tony reaches out for his dog, somehow a bit scared that he’d have the same reaction even though it has never happened before. But no, when he touches the iron it just gives him the little tingle that it always does.

Some evenings, late at night, his mother takes him into the forest to teach him how to dance. There is no forest where they live, but his mother shows him how to open up a pocket to get to one anyway. She take off her gloves and coat and dances with him in the moonlight, telling stories about their ancestors.

“We are the unholy and unblessed, the rulers of the autumn and winter court.” She tells him in a whisper while twirling around the trees, Tony following behind in a not quite as graceful manner. She stops near a large oak, bending down to put her hand in the dirt near the roots, feeling around. “We are the strong and devious. We bring them autumn and gifts, we even do their dirty work if they ask nicely.” She smiles widely, this time not bothering to cover her sharp teeth. “But unlike those weaker Seelie we don’t forget to punish those who fail to remember to thank us for it.”

She pulls her hand back from the roots and holds up a small stone, grinning at Tony in delight and something that looks a bit like hunger. “And sometimes we punish _before_ the offence is caused.”

Days later Tony will see that stone on his father’s desk when he comes in to show his working robot-dog. His father is on his fifth glass of whiskey and already seems angry and in pain when Tony knocks on his study door, but instead of yelling and lashing out when Tony accidentally implies he improved upon Howard’s concepts he just mumbles something about the war and downs another glass of alcohol. His mother’s eyes are luminous as they follow the interaction from the hallway.

Tony grows and learns. He learns how to smile, how to hold himself and how to look harmless, and how to make shadows hide him when he cannot. While his father throws physics and coding books at him his mother shows him how to smile at someone’s face while making sure they get lost permanently the next time they go walking in a forest. His father’s lessons are a lot easier Tony thinks.

When his father shows him how to work a gun and orders him to practice his mother takes him to the forest and shows him how to lure prey to him so he can kill them without needing a gun. When his father tells him to learn how to run a business his mother shows him how to twists someone’s words until they forget which way is up and which way is down. When his father throws another programming book at him his mother shows him how to weave illusions for the first time.

When he is successful in his lessons his father just ignores him, but his mother lets herself smile with her teeth showing and caresses his head.

When he is forced to interact with other people his age he always takes great delight in twisting them a bit, gifting and punishing at random. His mother tries to make a stern noise and tells him not to do anything that interferes in his father’s business, but smiles while she does it so Tony knows she doesn’t really disapprove of this pastime.

When he is older a lot of people will call him ‘wild’ as if it’s an insult. It never fails to make him and his mother laugh.

As years go on the games he plays get more and more complicated, and sometimes his mother will even let him see some of the games she plays with people. Tony likes it best when the lessons his mother teaches him involve watching her. She is good at what she does, and Tony fiercely hopes he will grow up to be like her.

Other things get more complicated as well. The dances grow more structured, the songs they sing more powerful and he is learning how to call on a storm. That last one is the hardest to do. His mother favours the spells of storm and cold magic, but Tony has some of his father’s blood. And in this it shows sometimes.

It is not as easy for him to call on the storms and cold, tough he seems naturally gifted at illusions. But he is frustrated, because he never had to work this hard for something before. He is only a little consoled with the fact victory will taste much sweeter when he finally will get it right when he as to work this hard for it.

Now Tony is getting older, his mother gets a man called Jarvis to help in the household so she has more time to raise Tony. She tells Tony’s father that Jarvis is from England, but Tony knows he’s not. Or at least, not the England his father is thinking of.

Just like his mother Jarvis also wears gloves he never takes off.

Mostly Jarvis is busy with the house and -as his mother not so jokingly says- keeping his father in line. But sometimes the butler has lessons for him as well. Jarvis shows him how to pick pockets and how to glamour only his mouth instead of his whole body. Now he can smile with his teeth showing and no-one runs away screaming.

He starts MIT, and it grounds are the perfect place for little deals and petty revenge Tony quickly finds. The willingness and desperation of the students are exactly the kind of breeding ground Tony expected it to be.

What he hadn’t expected was his roommate, James Rhodes. Rhodey is not like him in blood, but they are alike in spirit. And Tony quickly grows to respect him enough to give him a nickname (Rhodey laughs when Tony tells him that he should always use the nickname, not realising Tony is very serious about this). It is after a year of knowing each other when Rhodey is telling about how he used to hunt for trolls that Tony allows himself to think the word ‘friend’. (His mother giggles at this, and Javis mumbles about human blood, but they agree not to play games with Rhodey in the end.)

Years go by, and eventually Tony creates life in a way that no one else can, with coding and just a pinch of magic. He calls it DUM-E and pretends it’s so much less than it actually is.

He grows, and learns. He learns that people leave and die, that even his mother, his infallible mother, has and ending. He learns to dance the paths his mother showed him alone, to work magic in ways his mother and Jarvis couldn’t, ways that are only possible because of his fathers’ blood. He thinks he might hate them a little for leaving him alone to do this.

He starts on a new project,

He thinks about calling it MARIA, but ends up naming it JARVIS.

Tony admits he’s a bit out of control. His games become meaner, the stakes higher and he is less and less likely to offer mercy in the end. He indulges in honey and frightens cats for fun. And he knows this is grief (and he misses his mother so much, dancing alone just isn’t the same) but doesn’t know what to do about it.

It ends up being Rhodey who pulls him back from the edge. It is an accident too. One day Tony just enters the dorm they share and Rhodey is dancing. And it is crude, and mostly wrong, but some of those steps… some of those steps Tony learned as a child.

It’s clear that Rhodey is just making this up, Tony knows there’s no real magic in him, but the sight of the almost-dance still do something to him he has no name for. Carefully he steps up and joins in. Rhodey doesn’t slow down and welcomes Tony, even following some of Tony’s lead.

They dance what seems to be forever and a day, and then fall down exhausted. Rhodey because there might have been some magic during the dance, and Tony because his emotions and sleepless nights have caught up with him and even fae need some sleep.

So they fall in bed together, and Tony is asleep before his head hits the pillow.

One day he will wake up with a car-battery strapped to his chest and pretend open-heart surgery in a cave is something humans can survive. He will discover that his father’s blood alone will not be enough to stop metal from slowly poisoning his body and mind – his mother’s blood too strong within him.

He will find solutions to his problems, and not be beaten down by betrayal.

But that is the future. For now he sleeps, and dreams of dancing in the Wild Lands with his mother.


End file.
